Full name Edward Theodore Gin(Eng. Edward Theodore Gein; August 27, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA - July 26, Madison, Wisconsin, USA) - American serial killer, necrophiliac and corpse snatcher. One of the most notorious serial killers in US history. His image has widely penetrated the popular culture of the second half of the 20th century (films and literature).

Edward Geen was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on August 27, 1906. Parents - George Philip Geen (August 4, 1873 - April 1, 1940) and Augusta Wilhelmina Lerke (July 21, 1878 - December 29, 1945). Mother was the daughter of Prussian emigrants. Edward had an older brother, Henry George Geen (January 17, 1901 – May 16, 1944). Augusta and George met when they were 19 and 24 respectively and married on December 4, 1899. The parents' marriage did not work out from the very beginning. Father was an alcoholic, systematically left without work (he worked either as an insurance agent, then as a carpenter, then as a tanner), because of which the entire household, in fact, kept on one Augusta, who had a small grocery store. Despite the fact that the mother despised the father, they did not dissolve the marriage because of religious beliefs. Augusta grew up in a devout Lutheran family, whose members were ardent opponents of everything related to sex, because of which she saw everything only dirt, sin and lust. Mother forbade Edward and Henry to communicate with other children, constantly forced them to do hard work on the farm and let them go only to school. She constantly read the Bible to her sons, and called the city of La Crosse a "hell hole" and convinced the children that the whole world was mired in sin and depravity, and that all women except her were whores. In 1913, Augusta decided that life near La Crosse was too pernicious for her children, and the Gins, having saved up money, bought a small dairy farm about forty miles east of La Crosse, but in 1914, for unknown reasons, they sold it and bought another, in the vicinity of Plainfield.

At school, Ed was very shy and had no friends, as his mother severely punished him for all his attempts to make friends with anyone. According to the book Deviant about Gin, he had a small skin growth on his left eyelid, which was the object of ridicule from classmates, and also became the reason why Edward, having received a summons to the army in 1942, did not pass a medical examination. Later, some of his former classmates recalled that Ed had a number of oddities. In particular, the boy could laugh at any moment for no reason, as if he had heard some kind of joke. Despite the hard social development, Edward studied quite well and did especially well in reading lessons. When Gin was 10 years old, he had an orgasm while watching his mother and father slaughter a pig. One day, Augusta saw him masturbating, and scalded him with boiling water as punishment. Despite this, Ed considered his mother a saint, although Augusta was rarely pleased with her sons, believing that they would grow up to be the same losers as their father. As teenagers, Edward and Henry very rarely went outside the farm, and their social circle was limited to their own family.

Shortly after Henry's death, Augustus had a stroke and was bedridden. Ed courted her around the clock, but she was still unhappy. She constantly yelled at her son, calling him a weakling and a loser. From time to time she let him lie in bed with her during the night. In 1945, Augusta recovered from a stroke. She and Edward went to their neighbor named Smith to buy straw from him. August was shocked when she saw that he was cohabiting with a woman, after which she was grabbed new blow, which finally undermined her health, and she died on December 29, 1945 at the age of 67. Ed, now all alone on the farm, began reading anatomy books, stories of Nazi atrocities during World War II, various information about the exhumation, he also liked to read the local newspaper, especially the obituaries section. The neighbors didn't think Gin was crazy, just a "slightly weird" harmless eccentric and left him to babysit the kids, to whom Gin sometimes recounted what he had read on subjects he was obsessed with. Gin soon began visiting cemeteries, digging up and dismembering corpses. Often he was guided by information gleaned from obituaries in the local press. He especially liked [ ] break fresh graves women, although later during the investigation he swore that he had not performed any sexual manipulations with corpses, since, according to him, "they smelled too bad." Some parts of the corpses Gin took home, and soon he had a kind of collection of skulls and severed heads, which he hung on the walls. Gin also made himself a suit made of women's leather, which he wore at home.

Local children, who looked into the windows of Gin's house, talked about what they saw human heads hanging on the walls. Edward just laughed and said that his brother served during the war somewhere in South Seas and sent him these heads as a gift. Nevertheless, rumors spread around the town about strange objects in Gin's house, while he himself smiled and nodded without malice when asked about the severed heads that he supposedly keeps at home.

The police decided to search Gin's house and immediately found the disembowelled and mutilated corpse of Bernice Warden in Gin's shed. The corpse was mutilated and hung like a deer carcass. There was a terrible stench in Ed Gin's house. Masks made of human skin and severed heads were hung on the walls, a whole wardrobe was also found, made in a handicraft way from tanned human skin: two pairs of pants, a vest, a suit, as well as a chair made of human skin, a belt from female nipples, a bowl of soup made from a skull. The refrigerator was filled to the brim with human organs, and a heart was found in one of the pots. Gin later confessed to digging up the bodies of middle-aged women who reminded him of his mother from graves.

During many hours of interrogation, Geen confessed to the murder of two women - Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan, although he finally confessed to the murder of the latter only a few months later, after a polygraph interrogation.

While the trial of Gin was going on, local boys began to throw stones at the windows of the "horror house", and the townspeople considered the farm a symbol of evil and debauchery, so they avoided it. The authorities decided to sell the estate at auction. People protested but could do nothing about it. On the night of March 20, 1958, Gin's house mysteriously burned to the ground. There is a version that it was arson, but the perpetrators were never found. When Gin, imprisoned at the Central State Hospital, found out about the incident, he said: "That's right." The Gin plot was acquired by real estate dealer Edmine Shi. Within a month, he destroyed the ashes and the nearby undergrowth of 60,000 trees.

Ed Geen's car, which he drove on the day of the murder to Bernice Worden, was put up for auction. 14 people competed for this lot, and the Ford was sold for a lot of money at that time, $760. The buyer was Bunny Gibbons, the organizer of the Seymour Fair, where a Ford appeared as an attraction called Ed Gin's Ghoul Car. Over 2,000 people paid 25 cents each to see the car on the first two days of the show. Making money on Gin's notoriety was greeted with outrage by the townspeople of Plainfield. At the Washington Fair in Slinger, Wisconsin, the car was shown for four hours, after which the sheriff arrived and closed the ride. After that, Wisconsin authorities banned the display of the car. Offended businessmen went to the south of Illinois, in the hope of understanding . Gin's burial itself remained on same place but without any markings.

Gin is still a suspect to this day. three cases unsolved disappearances. In all three cases, no direct evidence of the death of the missing was found.

Serial killer Ed Geen (1906–1984) from the American town of Plainfield, Wisconsin, was the inspiration for villains in several horror films, including Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs, and Norman Bates from Psycho.

Gein's mother, Augusta, suffered from psychosis. She became a single mother in 1940 after the death of her alcoholic husband, George, by heart attack. After the death of his brother Henry in 1944, as some argue, not without the help of Ed himself, his mother became everything to him. Her world revolved around him, and she became the center of his existence. After her death at the end of 1945, Gin, who at that time was 39 years old, was left alone for the first time in his life.

Ed Geen, who was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, yearned for his mother. Perhaps in hopes of becoming his mother, he dressed like a woman and ransacked graves, digging up the bodies of women who reminded him of his mother. He later turned to murder.

He dismembered women and used their body parts to make furniture, other household items and clothing. Here are 10 gruesome items Ed Geen made from the corpses of women he killed or dug up in local cemeteries.

10. Clip for curtains from women's lips

Geen confessed to killing only two women, local bar owner Mary Hogan and hardware store owner Bernice Worden. But there is reason to believe that as many as seven women became his victims.

The exact number is difficult to determine, because Gin "diluted" the bodies of his victims with corpses stolen from neighboring cemeteries, among which was 51-year-old Eleanor Adams. He was also suspected of the disappearance of two children, eight-year-old Georgia Weckler and 15-year-old Evelyn Hartley.

When Bernice Warden disappeared without a trace from her own hardware store in Plainfield, her son Frank, the town's deputy sheriff, suspected that Ed was involved. And he was right. Captain Lloyd Shoefoester and Sheriff Art Schley found Bernice's body at Gin's house.

Her decapitated corpse, which was hung like a deer carcass, was discovered in a courtyard building. In a nearby box were her head and intestines, and nails protruding from her ears. Bernice's heart was found in Gbna's house. The police immediately searched the premises and, among other horrors, they found a curtain clip made from a woman's lips.

9. Lampshade made of human skin.

To find something to do, Gin began to read a lot. However, his "library" can not be called anything other than strange. It contained articles about cannibalism, headhunting, dried heads, and Nazi lampshades made from human skin.

Gin also studied Grey's Anatomy (a popular English textbook on human anatomy, considered a classic). Perhaps it was this tutorial that inspired Gin to create unique "designer" interior items. In his house, next to the chair where he liked to read books, there was a lamp, the lampshade of which was made of human skin.

8. Chairs upholstered in human skin.

Gin was reluctant to part with the body parts of his victims. He tried to use the bodies of his victims to the maximum. He kept the organs in his refrigerator and appears to have consumed them after cooking them on the stove or in the oven. Some say that sometimes he invited acquaintances to his creepy dinners. Among the gruesome finds police found at Gin's home were several chairs upholstered in the skin of his victims.

7. Bowls, tableware and ashtrays.

Some serial killers are obsessed with the skulls of their victims. For example, Richard Ramirez (known as the "Night Stalker") liked to smoke them. Gin used skulls stolen from nearby cemeteries as makeshift soup bowls and ashtrays. He also made forks and spoons from bones.

6. Masks.

Gin, who used female body parts as clothing, made sure that his hideous costumes were complemented by masks made from the faces of dead women.

The masks looked very realistic. They consisted of the victim's face, including hair, ears, nose, lips, chins, and jaws. The only thing missing was his eyeballs, Ed "used" his when he wore the masks.

5. Corset and belt.

As a boy, Gin exhibited an effeminate demeanor that caused him to be bullied by his classmates. After the death of his mother, he tried more and more to become a woman, perhaps in an attempt to "resurrect" his mother in this way.

Although he claimed to abstain from necrophilia because the women's corpses "smelled badly", he "tried on" the victims' skin to make clothes. One such piece was a corset, made to slim his waist and make him look more feminine. But he also had several other terrible items in his wardrobe. women's clothing including nipple strap.

4. Wall carpet and other artifacts.

Mountains of strange artifacts were scattered throughout Gin's house. Among them was a wastebasket made from human skin, a skull on the head of the bed, a collection of noses, a box of vaginas, and the head of victim Mary Hogan in a bag. Gin also made a wall hanging from various parts tel.

There were other equally disgusting things. A corset made from the skin of the victims helped him transform into a person of the opposite sex. Determined to be as human as possible, Gin skinned dead women's legs and used them as leggings.

3. Vest.

In Geen's time, psychological support, hormone therapy, breast augmentation, and sex reassignment surgery were not available, and gender dysphoria was not recognized as such. Consequently, in order to pretend to be a woman, Gin had to improvise.

In addition to the masks, corset and leggings, Gin used a "women's" vest. Made from the upper body of a woman, the vest included female breast, therefore, in some sources it is referred to as a "chest vest". This thing gave him a feminine look, at least he believed in it.

2. Dress.

Gin made a grotesque dress from the skin of his victims, which he wore when he pretended to be a woman. His love for such dresses became the inspiration for many horror films about atrocities similar to those committed by Gin himself.

1. Accessories.

Gin's wardrobe also contained many accessories, such as an apron made from the skin of his victims. Too odd even for Gin, this piece of clothing was a collection of mismatched pieces of leather stitched together with large, thick stitches, similar to those used by mortuary workers after performing an autopsy.

The nipple is present in the upper left part of the apron (but the breast itself is missing). Parts of the face - eyes, nose and upper lip– sewn together at the bottom left. A pair of ears are sewn in where pockets should be, above them is part of another face. On the lower right side is the right breast with the nipple.

Gin's other possessions included a pair of human skin gloves (the stitches on which follow the contours of the fingers), a pair of leather pants, and a necklace of five tongues strung on a string.

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Date of death:

Ed, who was now completely alone on the farm, began to voraciously read anatomy books, stories about Nazi atrocities during World War II, various information about exhumations, he also liked to read the local newspaper, especially the obituaries section. The neighbors didn't think Gein was crazy, just a "slightly weird" harmless eccentric and left him to babysit the kids, to whom Gein sometimes recounted what he had read on topics he was obsessed with. Gein soon moves from theory to practice - he begins to visit cemeteries at night, dig up corpses and butcher them. He is often guided by information gleaned from obituaries in the local press, he especially enjoyed tearing up the fresh graves of women, although later in the investigation he swore that he had not performed any sexual manipulations with the corpses: “they smelled too bad,” Gein said. Hein took some parts of the corpses home, and soon he had a kind of collection of skulls and severed heads, which he hung on the walls. Gein also made himself a suit of women's leather, which he wore at home.

Even the stories about the strange things that happened on his farm did not bother anyone. Local children who looked into the windows of Gein's house spoke of seeing human heads hung on the walls. Edward just laughed and said that his brother served during the war somewhere in the South Seas and sent him these heads as a gift. Nevertheless, rumors spread around the town about strange objects in Gein's house, while he himself smiled and nodded without malice when asked about the severed heads that he supposedly keeps at home. Nobody thought it could be real.

1947-1956

In 1947, an eight-year-old girl was found murdered in the district. Gein is believed to have committed the murder. The only piece of evidence the police found was tire marks from a car that later turned out to be Gein's. Gein's involvement has not been proven.

In 1952, two tourists disappeared after stopping to have a small picnic near Gein's house. Their bodies have not been found so far. Gein's involvement in the crime has not been proven, although he was suspected of their murder.

In 1953, a fifteen-year-old girl was found murdered. Gein's involvement has also not been proven, but some elements of the coincidence with the first murder are clearly visible.

In 1954, Gein kills Mary Hogan, the owner of a local tavern. Gein managed to quietly transfer fat woman to your home across the city. He dismembered her and kept her at home. Mary was declared missing. Gein joked that she stopped by to stay at his house. Mary disappeared from the motel, leaving only pools of blood behind, so Ed's jokes about the missing woman seemed tasteless to everyone. Nobody took him seriously.

Arrest. Court. Death.

On November 16, 1957, the owner of a hardware store, 58-year-old widow Bernice Warden, disappears without a trace. In the afternoon, her son Frank Warden returned from hunting and stopped at the store. He saw that his mother was not at home, and the front and back doors were left unlocked. Frank discovered something that scared him terribly - a trail of blood stretching from the shop window to the back door. After a quick search of the premises, Frank found a crumpled receipt in the name of Edward Gein.

The police decide to search Gein's house, and immediately make the first terrible discovery - the disembowelled and mutilated corpse of Bernice Warden in Gein's barn. The corpse was disfigured and hung like a deer carcass. Much more terrible finds were waiting for the police in the house of Ed Gein, where there was a terrible stench. Masks made of human skin and severed heads were hung on the walls, a whole wardrobe was also found, made in a handicraft way from tanned human skin: two pairs of trousers, a vest, a suit made of human skin, a chair upholstered in leather, a belt from female nipples, a plate for soup, made from a skull. But that was not all. The refrigerator was filled to the brim with human organs, and a heart was found in one of the pans. Gein later admitted to digging up the bodies of middle-aged women who reminded him of his mother from graves.

During many hours of interrogation, Gein confessed to the murder of two women - Bernice Worden and Mary Hogan (However, Gein confessed to the murder of Hogan only a few months later). His trial began.

While Gein's trial was going on, local boys began throwing stones at the windows of the House of Horrors. The townspeople considered the farm a symbol of evil and debauchery and avoided it at all costs. The authorities decided to sell the estate at auction. People protested but could do nothing about it. On the night of March 20, 1958, Gein's house mysteriously burned to the ground. There is a version that it was arson, but the perpetrators were never found. When Gein, imprisoned at the Central State Hospital, learned about the incident, he said only three words: "That's right."

The Gein property was purchased by Edmine Shi, a real estate broker. Within a month, he destroyed the ashes and the nearby undergrowth of 60,000 trees.

Ed Gein's car, which he drove on the day of the murder of Bernice Warden, was sold at an auction. 14 people fought for this lot, and, in the end, Ford left for big money at that time of $ 760. The buyer chose to remain anonymous. It is possible that the buyer was the organizer of the fair in Seymour, where a Ford car appeared as an attraction called "Ed Gein's Ghoul Car."

More than 2,000 people paid 25 cents to see the car on the first two days of the show.

Profiting from Gein's notoriety was met with outrage by the townspeople of Plainfield. At the Washington Fair in Slinger, Wisconsin, the car was shown for four hours, after which the sheriff arrived and closed the ride. After that, Wisconsin authorities banned the display of the car. Offended businessmen went to the south of Illinois, in the hope of understanding. Further fate car is unknown.

In accordance with the verdict of the court, Gein was declared insane and sent to compulsory treatment to the High Security Hospital for the Criminally Insane (now Dodge Correctional Institution) in Waupan, but was later transferred to the Menthod Institute of Mental Health in Madison. In 1968, the doctors decided Gein was sane enough to stand trial again. A new trial began on November 14, 1968, and lasted a week. Judge Robert Gollmarp found Gein guilty of premeditated murder, but since Gein was legally insane, he spent the rest of his life in a psychiatric hospital, where he died on July 26, 1984 from cardiac arrest caused by cancer, after which he was buried in Planfield City Cemetery. For a long time, the tombstone of his grave was destroyed due to souvenir hunters, and in 2000, most of the tombstone was completely stolen. In 2001, the gravestone was restored.

In popular culture

In literature

To the cinema

  • A version of the retelling of the life of Edward Gein as the most brutal serial killer in the history of America is made in the film "Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield" and in the film "In the Light of the Moon".
  • Elements of the biography of Ed Gein are included in famous films - such as Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
  • Ed Gein is mentioned in the series about serial killers"Think Like a Criminal", several episodes were filmed based on the plot of his life.
  • The character in the 4th episode of the 1st season of the cartoon Super Prison! »
  • Ed Gein is mentioned in the movie "American Psycho"
  • Ed Gein is mentioned in the television series Bones. Season 8 Episode 5 "The Method in the Madness"
  • Ed Gein, partly inspired the character Zachary Quinto in the TV series " American History Horror: Mental Hospital"

In music

  • Song " Nothing to Gein", the Mudvayne group tells about Ed Gein.
  • Song " Nipple Belt”, by the Tad group, tells the story of Ed Gein.
  • Song " Edward Gein”, by the Fibonaccis group, tells the story of Ed Gein.
  • Song " Dead Skin Mask”, The Slayer group tells about Ed Gein.
  • Song " Ballad of Ed Gein”- the Swamp Zombies group tells about Ed Gein.
  • Song " Ed Gein”- the Killdozer group tells the story of Ed Gein.
  • Song " Ed Gein"- the Macabre group tells about Ed Gein.
  • Song " Plainfield"- the group "Church of Misery" tells the story of Ed Gein.
  • Song " Sex Is Bad Eddie"- The Tenth Stage is about Ed Gein.
  • Song " skinned”- the group“ Blind Melon ”narrates about Ed Gein.
  • Song " The Geins"- the group" Macabre Minstrels "tells about Ed Gein.
  • Song " Torn"- the Maladiction group tells about Ed Gein.
  • Song " young god"Swans" also talks about the life of Ed Gein.
  • Gein is an American darkstep drum & bass band from Milwaukee.
  • Song " Ed Gein”- the group“ Billy the Kid ”narrates about Ed Gein.
  • The musical group "Ed Gein", playing in the genre of grindcore, mathcore, hardcore

Links

  • Ed Gein

Categories:

  • Personalities in alphabetical order
  • August 27
  • Born in 1906
  • Born in La Crosse
  • Deceased July 26
  • Deceased in 1984
  • Deceased in Madison
  • Serial killers alphabetically
  • American serial killers
  • Necrophiles
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  • Died from respiratory failure
  • Died of heart failure

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

The Wikipedia article on Edward Gein talks about how people felt about Gein's property. His farm, according to one version, was burned down, and his car, which was shown as an exhibit at some fair, was expelled from this fair at the insistence of people and was lost somewhere in history. That is, the actions of the Ephesians are evident, who by all means tried to ensure that nothing reminded of Herostratus. However, there are several feature films devoted to Edward Gein and, the fool knows, how many documentaries and Internet sites. This is the paradox of society: those who committed brutal murders become popular; those who are abnormal, insane, dangerous. People are interested in them, they read about them, look at the chronicle, someone even visits places of "glory". And all because they give a feeling of admiration. Horror, right? I feel sick at the sight of blood, I don't have an orgasm at the sight of a butchered pork carcass, I'm not drawn to frying human meat and eating it. But I want to look at the person who does all this. Preferably at an impressive distance, or even better after the fact, when he is no longer alive.

This is a biography film. But the biography of a maniac. The authors of the film were attentive to the various biographical details of Edward Gein. Starting from his harsh, and in many ways influenced his childhood, ending with a red plaid cap, an exact copy hanging female corpse, plates of skulls and even books about Nazism. From the point of view of the biography, the film seemed to me very accurate and attentive to the facts.

Steve Railsback, who played Gein himself, did an excellent job. However, in my opinion, there was something insanely predatory about the face of the real Edward Gein. And at the same time primordially farmer's. If anyone has not seen it, look at his photographs, he looks like the most typical farmer, but with rather unpleasant eyes. Steve Railsback Gein turned out to be unhappy with sad, suffering eyes. Here Gein came out as a sufferer, a mentally ill person who did not want to kill anyone, but his mother forced him, and she was a saint for him. I will not say that in reality it was not so, but still, it seems to me that Steve Railsback is not ideally suited for the role of Gein. Again, he did a great job with the role.

But there were very "sagging" moments in the film. For example, the first victim wounded in the shoulder, who had the strength in the car to beat Gein, but was not smart enough to just run away. She's not injured in the leg. Strange episode. She simply allowed herself to be dragged somewhere, driven, while being conscious, talking to Gein. In general, in the film, people seemed to be drunk on brake fluid. Reactions are somehow inhibited, there is no self-preservation instinct. Somehow unbelievable. But in general, just like a film about Edward Gein, this movie can be recommended to interested parties. It is not scary at all, there is very little blood or anatomy, they did not focus on this, and, probably, there was not enough money. Just illustrated the life of a real famous maniac.

Boyarova O.

The topic of US maniacs was well covered in one of the essays (). Unfortunately, Ed Gein was forgotten. It is unlikely that many people know his name, but films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho are well known to horror lovers. Where is the connection? The thing is that the prototype of the maniac from the farm and Buffalo Bill was just Edward Gein.

The prerequisites for the corrupted psyche of the future maniac can be found in Edward's childhood.

The boy was born on August 27, 1907 near the city of La Crosse, Wisconsing. All his childhood passed there. Edward was youngest child in the family of George and Augusta Gein. His brother Henry George Gein was four years older.

Gein's parents deserve special attention. His father George Gein was an alcoholic. He couldn't find permanent job, and the family was interrupted by rare earnings. It is noteworthy that there is no evidence that George beat his children. Most likely, he himself was a victim of his insane wife.

Now for Augusta Gein. She grew up in a very pious family. The idea that the world is mired in sin, everywhere there is only dirt, lust and sex, and all women (of course, except for her) are whores, Augusta carried through her whole life.

The question involuntarily begs, if she was already so pious and correct, then how did she get two sons? Well, this is just food for thought.

The truth was that Augusta was a tyrant in her family. After the Geins moved to a farm in Plainfield, Augusta forbade her sons to communicate with other children and constantly forced them to do hard work on the farm. She constantly read the Bible to Ed and Henry and always said that the city they live in is a "hell hole".

Despite all this, Edward idolized his mother and considered her a saint. His elder brother had a completely different opinion.

Relations between Ed and Henry became very strained after the death of their father in 1940.

Andrew sought to start an independent life, unfortunately, without success. Trying to denigrate his mother in the eyes of his younger brother, he only aggravated the situation more.

On May 16, 1944, a fire broke out on the farm, in which Henry died. The brothers were burning garbage that day, and according to Ed, the fire got out of control. Many believe that it was Ed who killed his older brother. Their opinion is not unfounded. First, Edward was the only witness, and the incident is known only from his words. Secondly, the question remains unclear why the men did not try to put out the fire?

Be that as it may, Edward's guilt has not been proven.

Now Ed Gein was alone with his mother. They still lived a quiet, aloof life on their farm. But in 1945, Augusta suffers a heart attack and is bedridden. Edward's concern only delays the inevitable end. A woman dies on December 29, 1945 and Ed is left alone.

The neighbors never complained about Gein. They considered him a good-natured eccentric and even left him to sit with the children. No one knew that the “quiet farmer” was fond of books on anatomy, reading stories about the atrocities of the Nazis during World War II. He is fascinated by information about the exhumation, obituaries in the newspapers give him particular pleasure.

Soon "Old Eddie" moves from theory to practice. He beckons female body, but he is too cowardly to apply fresh knowledge to living people.

Ed went to the local cemetery, where he tore open the fresh graves of women. After that, he gutted their bodies and took a couple of "souvenirs" for himself. His house became like a burial ground. He hung the heads of corpses on the walls, made a belt from the female genital organs, processed the skulls in the form of bowls, from which he then ate and drank. But the most sophisticated was the costume made from the skin of women.

Later, when Gein was arrested, he said that he did not perform any sexual manipulation on the corpses because "they smelled too bad." Thankfully he didn't have an air freshener.

In principle, a serial killer is considered to be a person who has killed three or more victims. This is due to the fact that when the third victim is killed, the serial has its own mode of action. However, all researchers consider Ed Gein a successful serial killer, despite the fact that, on his account, only two proven victims.

Although many attribute Gein a few more corpses.

In 1947, an eight-year-old girl was found murdered, the only evidence the police found were tire tracks from a car that belonged to Gein. True, Gein did not confess to committing this crime.

In 1952, two tourists who stopped to have a small picnic near Gein's house disappeared. Their bodies have not been found so far. Ed's involvement has not been proven.

In 1953, a fifteen-year-old girl was found murdered. Gein's involvement has also not been proven, but some elements of the coincidence with the first murder are clearly visible.

Blaming Ed Gein for these crimes is not entirely reasonable. If you study Edward's personality well enough, it becomes clear that this is not his handwriting (subsequent murders will confirm this). Gein was not interested in teenage girls. Furthermore, known fact that Gein was left to sit with children, further proves his innocence in these crimes. The dubious evidence of tire tracks and the absence of any other evidence (the bodies of the girls were not found in Gein's house) make these accusations look like a cheap horror story, made up to draw attention to Gein's personality.

But in 1954 Gein really commits a crime. He kills the owner of the local tavern, Mary Hogan. Mary disappeared from the motel, leaving behind only pools of blood. Gein managed to discreetly transfer the woman, who weighed about eighty kilograms, to his home across the city. He dismembered her and kept her at home. Mary was declared missing.

Presumably, Gein did this because the woman, who somehow reminded him of his mother, yelled at the man, thereby provoking his anger.

On November 16, 1957, another woman, 58-year-old Bernice Worden, went missing. In the afternoon, her son returned from hunting and stopped at the hardware store run by his mother. It seemed strange to him that his mother was not there. He decided to go to the police after he found a bloody trail on the floor, stretching from the shop window to the back door. After a quick search of the premises, Frank found another crumpled receipt for half a gallon of antifreeze lying around in the backyard. The receipt was in the name of Edward Gein.

The woman's body was later found at Gein's farm. It was so disfigured that the sheriff at first mistook it for a deer carcass. Only later was it established that the decapitated body belonged to the missing Bernice Worden.

But more terrible things were found in Ed's house. In addition to the already known "souvenirs", human entrails were found in Gein's refrigerator, and in one saucepan there was a heart.

The trial over him was not long. Gein confessed to killing the two women. He was declared insane, and, in accordance with the verdict of the court, Edward Gein was sent for compulsory treatment to the maximum security hospital for the insane criminals in Wapan, but was later transferred to the Institute mental health Mentoda in Madison.

Gein died on July 26, 1984 in a mental hospital from cardiac arrest caused by cancer, after which he was buried in Planfield City Cemetery. For a long time, the tombstone of his grave was destroyed due to souvenir hunters, and in 2000, most of the tombstone was completely stolen.

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